Anti-money laundering and countering financing of terrorism legislation in Vietnam: Criminalization, Practice and Challenges

Abstract

This paper aims to examine the effectiveness and suitability of theVietnamese anti-money laundering (AML) and countering financing terrorism(CFT) regime. This paper has three parts. The first part of the paper willprovide an overview of the Law on Anti-money laundering 2012 (the Law onAML) and the criminalization of money laundering offences in the CriminalCode 2015, amended in 2017. The second part of the paper seeks to examinethe practice and challenges of the Vietnamese AML/CFT framework in terms ofthe (i) implementation of preventive measures adopted by the reportinginstitutions in order to preclude and identify money laundering cases; (ii) use ofreporting and combating identifiable or suspected money launderingtransactions to the relevant authorities; and (iii) domestic and internationalcooperation in AML. The third part of the paper will provide recommendationsas referencing for other jurisdictions.